All Knowledge & Insights By Date

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency released on June 21, 2019, a proposed rule intended to reduce exposures to certain chemicals that are persistent, bioaccumulative, and toxic (PBT). EPA identified five chemicals pursuant to Section 6(h) of the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA): decabromodiphenyl ether (DecaBDE); phenol, isopropylated phosphate (3:1) (PIP (3:1)), also known as tris(4-isopropylphenyl) phosphate; 2,4,6-tris(tert-butyl)phenol (2,4,6-TTBP);...

The Environmental Law Institute (ELI), the George Washington University Milken Institute School of Public Health, and Bergeson & Campbell, P.C. (B&C®) held a one-day conference providing updates and insights regarding year three of the federal government’s implementation of the Frank R. Lautenberg Chemical Safety for the 21st Century Act that amended the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) on June 22, 2016.  Speakers provided an overview of the current...

The European Commission (EC) began a public consultation on June 12, 2019, on the Fitness Check Roadmap on Endocrine Disruptors. According to the EC, the Fitness Check will contribute to the assessment of whether chemicals legislation in the European Union (EU) delivers its objective to protect human health and the environment by minimizing the overall exposure to endocrine disruptors. The Fitness Check will include an analysis of how different provisions in the broad spectrum of EC...

This week, I sat down with a highly-regarded member of the environmental NGO community, Eric Schaeffer, who currently serves as the Executive Director of the Environmental Integrity Project, which he co-founded in 2002. Previously, Eric worked for more than a decade at EPA, including a five-year stint as the Director of EPA’s Office of Civil Enforcement, which, as you will hear in our conversation, was a very formative time for his thinking. At a time when some news outlets and EPA detractors...

This week, I sat down with a highly-regarded member of the environmental NGO community, Eric Schaeffer, who currently serves as the Executive Director of the Environmental Integrity Project, which he co-founded in 2002. Previously, Eric worked for more than a decade at EPA, including a five-year stint as the Director of EPA’s Office of Civil Enforcement, which, as you will hear in our conversation, was a very formative time for his thinking. At a time when some news outlets and EPA...

The concept of confidential business information (CBI) is sometimes considered at odds with the concept of the ‘right-to-know.’ When Congress amended the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) in 2016 through enactment of the Frank R. Lautenberg Chemical Safety for the 21st Century Act (Lautenberg), it was mindful of the public’s growing interest in knowing more about the identity of chemicals to which they may be exposed, but equally mindful of a business’ legitimate interest in protecting...

Wednesday, July 24, 20191:00 p.m. - 2:00 p.m. (EDT) View this webinar on demand online. Overview: The U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) is the most comprehensive reform measure created to prevent food-borne illness.  Enacted in 2011, FSMA includes massive legislative changes aimed to prevent food-borne diseases.  One of the FSMA foundational rules, Mitigation Strategies to Protect against Intentional Adulteration, requires...

BoA Issues Landmark Decision In Data Sharing Dispute: On April 15, 2019, the European Chemicals Agency’s (ECHA) Board of Appeal (BoA) issued its decision in a data sharing dispute concerning access to data and cost sharing for the substance Acid Orange 7. The Appellants in the case before the BoA were REACH & Colours Kft and REACH & Colours Italia S.r.l. REACH & Colours Kft is the Lead Registrant for Acid Orange 7, and REACH & Colours Italia S.r.l. represents...

On June 11, 2019, the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations held a hearing on “Critical Mission: Former Administrators Address the Direction of the EPA.” According to the June 6, 2019, memorandum from Representative Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ), Chair of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, in April 2019, seven former Administrators of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) sent the Committee on Energy and Commerce and other congressional...

In the Trump Administration’s Unified Agenda of Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions (Regulatory Agenda) issued on October 17, 2018, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) published a Proposed Rule Stage item titled “Update to the Hazard Communication Standard,” RIN 1218-AC93, and scheduled the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) to be issued by March 2019.  The full description of the item is: OSHA and other U.S. agencies have been...